Improvement



f UNITED I STATES PATENT OFFICE.

CHRISTEN CHRISTENSEN, OF BROOKLYN, NEW YORK.

iIVlPROVEMENT IN ROTARY ENGINES.

Specification forming part of Letters Patent No. 33,184, dated September 8, 1861.

To a/ZZ whom t may concern:

Be it known that I, CHRIsrEN CHRIsrENsEN, of Brooklyn, in the county of Kings and State of New York, have invented a new and Improved Rotary Engine; and I do hereby declare that the following is a full, clear, and

`exact description of the same, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, forming part of this specification, in which* Figure 1 represents an elevation of my in- .Vention looking in the direction of arrow l, Fig. 2. Fig. 2 is a longitudinal vertical central section of the same. Fig. 3 is an end elevation of the same looking in the direction of arrow 2, Fig. 2. Fig. 4 is a transverse vertical section of the same, the line @c Fig. 2, indicating the plane of section.

Similar letters of reference in the several views indicate corresponding parts.

This invention consists, iirst,'in the peculiar arrangement of two notched dogs running in and being guided by the grooved face of a rotary disk, in combination with a tooth se cured in the face of said disk and with a series of levers, arms, and toothed segments, and with the rising and falling abutment in such a manner that by the action of the tooth on said notched dogs the abutment is raised and depressed by a positive motion in whatever direction the piston turns; second, in the arrangement of cam on the rotary shaft, in combination with a cut-off valve, in such a manner that the steam is cut off during the time the abutment is raised and an escape or loss of steam is prevented; third, in the employment of conical packing-rings, in c0mbination with an inclined surface on the sides of the piston-Wheel and with annular disks having conical projections on their inner surfaces, in such a manner that by tightening the screws which secure said annular disks to the cylinder `the packing-rings are forced up tight simultaneously against the inclined surface of the piston-wheel and against the inner surface of the cylinder, and that the joints can always be kept perfectly tight without opening the cylinder simply by tightening said annular disks; fourth, in the arrangement of annular packing-pieces guided by hinged pins and forced into the corners of the box containing the abutment by means of suitable springs, as will be hereinafter more fully explained; fifth, in the peculiar constructionof the piston, which is forced against the inner surface of the cylinder by means of springs, and which is prevented from catching in the opening of the abutment by a crossbar retained by cams during the time the piston 4passes said opening; sixth, in the arrangement of a pointer, in combination with a groove or mark on the central shaft of the piston, in such a manner that by its aid the correct position of the piston can be ascertained whenever it is desired, and, seventh, in the employment of conical metallic stufting-boxes, in combination with the tapering ends of the central shaft, for the purpose of insuring a correct position of the piston.

The piston-wheel A, which runs in the inlterior of the stationary cylinder B, is firmly secured to the rotary central shaft C. The pistonD,which projects from thel piston-wheel A, runs air-tight on the inner surface of the cylinder and the steam passes into the annular space between the inner surface of the cylinder and the outer surface of the pistonwheel on one side of the abutmentE and out on the other through the ports a a', either one of which may be the steam `or the exhaust prt, according to the direction in which the engine runs. The abutment E is connected to bars b', which extend upward throughstuffing-boxes c, and to which arising and falling motion is imparted by arms e e, that .are connected to rock-shafts ff. These rock-shafts have their/bearin gs in arms g g', and'they are geared'together by toothed segments h h', so that they both oscillate up and down simultaneously in opposite directions. The tooth ed ,segments are raised or depressed by the action of a tooth i, which is secured to the circumference of a disk F, that is rmly attached to the central shaft C. Two grooves j j in the circumference ofy this disk form the guides for the dogs G G', and notches 7a 7o in these dogs afford a hold to the tooth t' as it revolves with the disk F. v The ends of the dogs are slightly turned up or rounded, so that the tooth passes readily under them,and the edges of the notches are square on both sides, so that the tooth in catching in one of said notches pulls or pushes the dog along in whatever direction the disk F may rotate. The

dogs G G are suspended from the short arms Z Z of bell-crank levers Z m Z m', that are fulcrated on stationary pivots n n', projecting and the cylinder.

rod o, and toothed segment h, the abutment E, and on arriving at the dog G the tooth t' catches at the outer edge of the notch k and carries the dog G out a sufficient distance to depress the abutment through the action of the bell-crank leverfl an', rod 0', and toothed segment 7L. If the engine turns in the opposite direction, the action of the tooth t' on the dogs G G will be precisely the same; but

`the dog G will now come into action first and the dog G afterwards, and in both cases the .abutment is raised and depressed by a positive motion. The abutment slides up and down in the box E and the joints between its ends and the ends of said box are rendered Atight by packing-pieces a2 h2. The rectangular packing-pieces a2 are forced out.v against the ends of the box E2 by springs c2, being guided by pins d2, and the conical packing-pieces b2 are guided by the hinged pins e2 and forced out into the corners of the box E by means of springs f2. During the time the abutment is raised from the surface of the piston-wheel the steam is cut off by the action of a cam H, which is firmlysecu red to the central shaft C on the opposite sideof the disk F and which acts on the lower extremity of the stem p that connects with the cut-off valve I. rlhe cam H -is placed in such a position that it acts on the vvalve l just before the tooth 1l comes in contact with one of the dogs G G, vand that the valve l is closed just before the abutment is lifted from the surface of the piston-wheel, and said cam is of such a shape that it acts either way and that the valve l is kept closed until the abutment is again depressed on the surface of the piston-wheel. By these means a loss of steam during the time the abutment is raised is most effectually prevented.

rlhe joints between the piston-wheel A and thecylinder B are rendered tight. by conical metallic packing-rings q, which are inserted into the open ends of the cylinder, so as to bear on inclined faces r on the sides of the piston wheel, as clearly shown in Fig. 1. 2. The packing-rings q are forced up against the inclined faces r of the piston-wheel by meansA of conical projections s, attached to annular disks J, that are secured by means of screws t to the ends of the cylinders. The shape of the packingrings q is such that by tightening up the screws t they close up tight simultaneously against the inner surface of the cylinder and against the faces r of the piston-wheel, thus making a perfect and an adjustable joint between the piston-wheel The most essential advanytage of this packing, however, lies in the fact that .it can be tightened from the outside without open ing the cylinder, it being-hardly necessary to stop the engine.

The piston D is secured to thecircumference of the piston-wheel A by means of solid plates u, which extend all the way across the surface of the piston-wheel. These plates form the guides for the packing-pieces fu w, which are arranged somewhat similar to the packing-pieces a2 h2 of the abutment. The middle piece 'u is attached to guide-pins g2, which pass freely through the rim of the piston-wheel, being keyed to a cross-bar h, that is forced toward the center of the pistonwheel by means of a weak spring 2. Two (more or less) springs 7'2 force the packingpiece u out toward the inner surface of the cylinder. The ends of the piece c are inclined to correspond to the inclined ends ot' the pieces 2U, so that a pressure exerted on these latter pieces from the inside keeps them up to the sides-of the cylinder and also to the inclined ends of the piece c. The cross-bar 71,2 is guided by staples 7a2, and as it turns with the piston-wheel and just when it arrives under the aperture through which the abutment works it catches under two lugs Z2, that are firmly secured to the cylinder-heads. 'lhese-lugsretain the piston and prevent it catching in the aperture of the abutment, and as soon as the piston has passed said aperture the cross-bar h2 is releasedand the packing-piece u is forced out again against the inner surface of the cylinder by the springsjz.

The correct position of the piston-wheel is ascertained by a pointer L, which is secured to the frame or bed-plate of the engine and which stands right opposite to a mark or groove m2 in the central shaft C. lf the piston-wheel works loose, this pointer shows at once which side wants screwing up, and by means of the screws t the piston-wheel can always be brought in a correct position. The central shaft C of the piston-wheel has its bearings in pillow-blocks M, and the journals of the shaft are made tapering and they run in conical boxes N, that are secured to the pillow-blocks by mea'nsof screws a2. If the boxes N wear out on the' under side, it is only necessary tov tighten up the screws n2 in order to bring the piston-wheel back to its correct positionin a vertical direction. Thus it will Vbe seen that with my engine the piston-wheel can be adjusted at all times by means of the screws t and n2, all of which can easily be reached from the outside, it being hardly'` necessary to stop the engine for the purpose of accomplishing this object, and at the same time the joints are rendered perfectly tight and any wear of the packing in any part of the engine is either compensated by the action of the springs acting thereon or by the screws l tooth t', bell-crank levers l m Z m', arms o o', toothed segments h 7L', and abutment E, all constructed and operating as and for the purpose set forth.

2. The arrangement of the cam H and outoif valve l, in combination with the rising and falling abutment E, as and for the purpose described.

3. The employment of the conical packingrings q and inclined faces fr on'the piston- 5. The arrangement of the locking springbar h2 and lugs t2, in combination With the self-adjusting spring-piston D, constructed and operating in the manner and for the purpose specied.

6. The employment of the stationary point-l er L, in combination with groove or mark 'm2 on the rotary central shaft C, as and for the l purpose set forth.

7. The arrangementof the conical journalboxes N, in combination with the tapering journals of the rotary shaft C, constructed and operating as and for the purpose described.

. Cl-IRISTEN CHRISTENSEN.

Witnesses:

J. W.CooMBs, JAMES LAIRD. 

